F. Bente - Historical Introductions. Small Catechism

109. Title of Small Catechism.

Luther seems to have published the chart catechism of January, 1529,

without any special title, though Roerer, from the very first, calls it

a catechism. In the first Wittenberg book edition, however, one finds

inserted, between the Preface and the Decalog, the superscription: "_Ein

kleiner Katechismus oder christliche Zucht._ A Small Catechism or

Christian Discipline." This may have been the title of the charts, since

it would hardly have been introduced for the book edition, where it was

entirely superfluous, the title-page designating it as "The Small

Catechism for the Ordinary Pastors and Preachers." Likewise it cannot be

proved that the opening word on the title-page of this first book

edition was "Enchiridion," since this edition has disappeared without a

trace, and the only remaining direct reprint does not contain the word

"Enchiridion." All subsequent editions however, have it.

The word "Enchiridion" is already found in the writings of Augustine,

and later became common. In his Glossary, Du Cange remarks: "This name

[Enchiridion] St. Augustine gave to a most excellent little work on

faith, hope, and charity, which could easily be carried in the hand, or,

rather, ought continually to be so carried, since it contained the

things most necessary for salvation." (3, 265.) The Erfurt

_Hymn-Booklet_ of 1524 was called "Enchiridion or Handbooklet, very

profitable for every Christian to have with him for constant use and

meditation." In 1531 Luther praised the Psalter, saying: "It may be

called a little Bible, wherein all that is found in the entire Bible is

most beautifully and briefly summed up and has been made and prepared

to be a splendid Enchiridion, or Handbook." (E. 63, 28.) The

_Instruction for Visitors_ calls the primer "the handbooklet of the

children, containing the alphabet, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and

other prayers." In 1523 Melanchthon had published such a book, entitled

"Enchiridion." Thus Enchiridion denotes a book of pithy brevity, an

elementary book. The various Church Orders employ the word in a similar

sense. (W. 30, 1, 540.)

110. Editions of Small Catechism.

At Wittenberg, George Rhau printed the Large Catechism and Michel

Schirlentz the Small Catechism (the chart impressions of which must be

considered the first edition). In the Preface to the Small Catechism,

Luther speaks of "these tables" and "the form of these tables," thus

referring to the chief parts, which were already printed on placards.

However, since "table" also denotes a list, the term could be applied

also to the chief parts in book form. It was nothing new to employ

tables ("_Zeddeln," i.e._, placards printed on one side) in order to

spread the parts of the Catechism in churches, homes, and schools. In

1518 Luther published his "Ten Commandments with a brief exposition of

their fulfilment and transgression," on placards. Of the charts of the

Small Catechism only a Low German copy has as yet been discovered. It

contains Luther's Morning and Evening Prayers, a reduced reproduction of

which is found in the Weimar Edition of Luther's Works. (30, 1, 241.)

The book editions soon took their place beside the charts. It seems (but

here the traces are rather indefinable) that the first three tables were

summed up into a booklet as early as January or February, 1529. At

Hamburg, Bugenhagen published the charts, which he had received till

then, as a booklet, in Low German. It contained the five chief parts and

the Benedicite and Gratias. Shortly after the first Wittenberg book

edition had reached him Bugenhagen translated the Preface and had it

printed as a supplement.

Shortly after the completion of the Large Catechism Luther made

arrangements to have the Small Catechism appear in book form. May 16

Roerer sent two copies of the _Catechismus Minor._ But, as stated above,

all copies of this edition were completely used up. The edition has been

preserved in three reprints only, two of which appeared at Erfurt and

one at Marburg. Th. Harnack published the one Erfurt and the Marburg

reprint, and H. Hartung the other Erfurt reprint in separate facsimile

editions. Evidently these reprints appeared before the second

Wittenberg edition of June, 1529, was known at Erfurt and Marburg. In

estimating their value, however, modern scholars are not agreed as to

whether they represent three direct or one direct and two indirect

reprints. Albrecht is of the opinion that only one of the three may be

looked upon as a direct reprint. Judging from these reprints, the

original edition was entitled: "_Der kleine Katechismus fuer die

gemeinen Pfarrherrn und Prediger._ The Small Catechism for Ordinary

Pastors and Preachers." Aside from the five chief parts, it contained

the Preface, the Morning and Evening Prayers, the Table of Duties, and

the Marriage Booklet. On the other hand, these reprints omit not only

the word Enchiridion, but also the question, "How can bodily eating and

drinking do such great things?" together with its answer. Now, in case

all three should be direct reprints, the omitted question and answer

evidently were not contained in the first Wittenberg edition either. On

the other hand, if only one of them is a direct reprint, the mistake

must be charged to the original Wittenberg impression or to the reprint.

That the omission is an error, probably due to the printer, appears from

the fact that the omitted question and answer were already found on the

charts; for the Hamburg book edition of the charts in Low German has

them, as also Stifel's written copies of the charts. (W. 30, 1, 573.)

Of the Wittenberg editions which followed the _editio princeps,_ those

of 1529, 1531, and 1542 deserve special mention. The first appeared

under the title: "Enchiridion. The Small Catechism for the Ordinary

Pastors and Preachers, enlarged and improved." On the 13th of June this

edition was completed, for Roerer reports on this date: "Parvus

Catechismus sub iucudem iam tertio revocatus est et in ista postrema

editione adauctus." (Kolde _l.c._, 60.) Roerer designates this edition

as the third, probably because two imprints had been made of the _editio

princeps._ According to a defective copy, the only one preserved, this

edition adds to the contents of the _editio princeps_ the word

Enchiridion in the title, the Booklet of Baptism, A Brief Form of

Confessing to the Priest, for the Simple, and the Litany. The fifth

chief part has the question: "How can bodily eating and drinking do such

great things?" In the Lord's Prayer, however, the explanation of the

introduction is still lacking. This emended edition of 1529 furthermore

had the pictures, for the first time as it seems. The booklets on

Marriage and Baptism were retained, as additions, in all editions of the

Small Catechism published during the life of Luther, and in many later

editions as well. As yet, however, it has not been proved directly that

such was intended and arranged for by Luther himself.

Also in the succeeding editions Luther made various material and

linguistic changes. In the edition of 1531 he omitted the Litany, and

for the "Short Form of Confession" he substituted an instruction in

confession, which he inserted between the fourth and fifth chief parts,

under the caption, "How the Unlearned Shall be Taught to Confess." The

Lord's Prayer was complemented by the addition of the Introduction and

its explanation, and the number of cuts was increased to 23. This

edition of 1531, of which but one copy (found in the Bodleiana of

Oxford) is in existence, shows essentially the form in which the

Enchiridion was henceforth regularly printed during and after Luther's

life. (W. 30, 1, 608.) The editions of 1537 reveal several changes in

language, especially in the Bible-verses, which are made to conform to

Luther's translation. In the edition of 1542 the promise of the Fourth

Commandment appears for the first time, and the Table of Duties is

expanded. The Bible-verses referring to the relation of congregations to

their pastors were added, and the verses setting forth the relation of

subjects to their government were considerably augmented. Hence the

title: "Newly revised and prepared, _aufs neue uebersehen und

zugerichtet._" Probably the last edition to appear during Luther's life

was the one of 1543, which, however, was essentially a reprint of the

edition of 1542.

Knaake declared that all the editions which we possess "must be

attributed to the enterprise of the book dealers," and that one cannot

speak of a direct influence of Luther on any of these editions. In

opposition to this extreme skepticism, Albrecht points out that, for

instance, the insertion of the explanation of the Introduction to the

Lord's Prayer and the new form of confession, as well as its insertion

between Baptism and the Lord's Supper, could not have taken place

"without the direct cooperation of Luther."

111. Translations and Elaborations of Small Catechism.

Two of the Latin translations of the Small Catechism date back to 1529.

The first was inserted in the _Enchiridion Piarum Precationum,_ the

Latin translation of Luther's _Prayer-Booklet,_ which appeared toward

the end of August, 1529. Roerer met with great difficulties in editing

the book. August, 1529, he wrote: "You may not believe me if I tell you

how much trouble I am having with the Latin _Prayer-Booklet_ which is

now being printed. Somebody else, it is true, translated it from German

into Latin, but I spent much more labor in this work than he did." (W.

30, 1, 588.) We do not know who the translator was to whom Roerer

refers. It certainly was not Lonicer, the versatile Humanist of Marburg

who at that time had completed the Large Catechism with a Preface dated

May 15, 1529. Kawerau surmises that it was probably _G. Major._

Evidently Luther himself had nothing to do with this translation. This

Catechism is entitled: _Simplicissima et Brevissima Catechismi

Expositio._ Almost throughout the question form was abandoned. In 1532 a

revised form of this translation appeared, entitled: _Nova Catechismi

Brevioris Translatio._ From these facts the theory (advocated also by v.

Zezschwitz and Knaake) has been spun that the Small Catechism sprang

from a still shorter one, which was not throughout cast in questions and

answers, and offered texts as well as explanations in a briefer form.

This would necessitate the further inference that the Preface to the

Small Catechism was originally written in Latin. All of these

suppositions, however, founder on the fact that the charts as we have

them in the handwriting of Stifel are in the form of questions and

answers. The _Prayer-Booklet_ discarded the form of questions and

answers, because its object was merely to reproduce the contents of

Luther's Catechism for such as were unacquainted with German.

The second Latin translation of 1529 was furnished by John Sauermann,

not (as v. Zezschwitz and Cohrs, 1901, in Herzog's _R. E._, 10, 135,

assume) the Canon of Breslau, who died 1510, but probably Johannes

Sauermann of Bambergen, who matriculated at Wittenberg in the winter

semester of 1518. (W. 30, 1, 601.) Sauermann's translation was intended

as a school edition of the Small Catechism. First came the alphabet,

then followed the texts: Decalog, Creed, the Lord's Prayer, Baptism, the

Lord's Supper. Luther's Preface, the Litany, and the Booklets of

Marriage and Baptism were omitted as not adapted for school use. The

chapter on Confession, from the second Wittenberg book edition was

inserted between the fourth and fifth chief parts. The note to the

Benedicite was put into the text with the superscription "Scholion"

(instead of the incorrect "Scholia" of the German edition, found also in

the Book of Concord). "Paedagogus" was substituted for "head of the

family (_Hausvater_)." The word "Haustafel" remained untranslated. The

words of the Third Petition, "so uns den Namen Gottes nicht heiligen und

sein Reich nicht kommen lassen wollen," are rendered: "quae nobis nomen

Dei non _sanctificent_ regnumque eius ad nos pervenire non sinant."

In the Preface, dated September 19, 1529, "Johannes Sauromannus" writes:

"Every one is of the opinion that it is clearly the best thing from

early youth carefully and diligently to instruct the boys in the

principles of Christian piety. And since I believe that of all the

elementary books of the theologians of this age none are better adapted

for this purpose than those of Dr. Martin Luther, I have rendered into

Latin the booklet of this man which is called the Small Catechism,

hoping that it might be given to the boys to be learned as soon as they

enter the Latin school." At the same time Sauermann declares that his

translation was published "by the advice and order (_consilio ac iussu_)

of the author [Luther] himself." (30, 1, 673.) One cannot doubt,

therefore, that Sauermann's translation received Luther's approval. And

being in entire conformity with the _Instruction for Visitors,_ of 1528,

for the Latin city schools, the book was soon in general use. In 1556

Michael Neander speaks of it as "the common Latin version, hitherto

used in all schools." (603.) The Latin Concordia of 1584 contains

Sauermann's version, essentially, though not literally. The Preface,

which Sauermann had not translated, is taken over from the

_Prayer-Booklet._ The part On Confession was newly translated from the

German edition of the Catechism of 1531. The textual changes which were

made in Sauermann's translation for the Concordia of 1584 "show that he

was careful and usually felicitous, and are partly to be explained as

combinations of the first and second Latin translations." (604.)

When, in 1539, Justus Jonas translated the Nuernberg _Sermons for

Children,_ he made a third Latin translation of the Small Catechism. He

calls it "this my Latin translation, not carefully finished indeed, but

nevertheless rendered in good faith." (627.) This Latin text obtained

special importance since it was immediately done into English, Polish,

and Icelandic. In 1560 Job Magdeburg furnished a fourth Latin version.

Concerning the translations into Greek, Hebrew, and other languages see

Weimar Edition of Luther's Complete Works (10, 1, 718f.)

Among the earliest elaborations of the Small Catechism was the Catechism

of Justus Menius, 1532, and the Nuernberg _Children's Sermons_ of 1533.

Both exploit Luther's explanations without mentioning his name. At the

same time some changing, abbreviating, polishing, etc., was done, as

Luther's text was considered difficult to memorize. Albrecht says of

Menius's emendations: "Some of his formal changes are not bad; most of

them, however are unnecessary. The entire book finally serves the

purpose of bringing to light the surpassing merit of the real

Luther-Catechism." (617.) The same verdict will probably be passed on

all the substitute catechisms which have hitherto appeared. John

Spangenberg's Small Catechism of 1541, which was widely used, is, as he

himself says, composed "from the Catechism of our beloved father, Dr.

Martin, and those of others." It contains Luther's Catechism mainly as

changed by Menius. The Nuernberg _Children's Sermons,_ which embodied

also the pictures of Luther's Catechism and received a wide circulation,

were written by Osiander and Sleupner in 1532, and printed at Nuernberg,

1533. They contain almost complete the five chief parts of Luther's

Small Catechism as concluding sentences of the individual sermons, but

in original minting, with abbreviations, additions, and other changes,

which, however, are not nearly as marked as those of Menius. These

changes were also made to facilitate memorizing. Between Baptism and

the Lord's Supper was found the doctrinal part on the Office of the

Keys, which in this or a similar form was, after Luther's death,

appended to or inserted in, the Small Catechism as the sixth or fifth

chief part, respectively.

112. The Part "Of Confession."

The Small Catechism did not spring from Luther's mind finished and

complete at one sitting. Originally he considered the first three chief

parts as constituting the Catechism. Before long, however, he added the

parts of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. These five parts are for the

first time mentioned in the _German Order of Worship,_ and printed

together in the Booklet for Laymen and Children. The Introduction to the

Large Catechism also offers no more. The chart and book editions added

as real parts of the Catechism (the Booklets of Marriage and of Baptism

cannot be viewed as such) the Benedicite and Gratias, the Morning and

Evening Prayers, the Table of Duties, and Confession. It is the last of

these parts which played a peculiar role in the history of the Small

Catechism. Albrecht writes: "In the textual history of the Small

Catechism, Confession (besides the Table of Duties) is the most restless

and movable part. In the Low German editions since 1531 and 1534 it is

found after the Lord's Supper as a sort of sixth chief part. In

individual instances it is entirely omitted. On the other hand, in

elaborations of the Catechism, notably in the Nuernberg

Catechism-sermons, it is supplanted by the Office of the Keys, and in

later prints also combined with it or otherwise recast." (W. 30, 1,

607.)

As for Luther, evidently, as soon as he began to work on the Catechism,

he planned to include also a part on Confession. Among the charts there

were already those which dealt with Confession. In fact, Luther must

have here treated this part at comparative length. For Roerer reports

that the price of the Confession charts was three pfennige, whereas the

price of the Sacrament charts was two pfennige. Yet nothing of

Confession was embodied in the first book edition of the Small

Catechism. The first edition also of the Large Catechism had no part

treating of Confession. But the second Wittenberg edition, of 1529

appeared "augmented with a new instruction and admonition concerning

Confession." Likewise the "augmented and improved" Small Catechism of

1529, superscribed, "Enchiridion," contained a "Short Form how the

Unlearned shall Confess to the Priest. _Eine kurze Weise zu beichten

fuer die Einfaeltigen, dem Priester._" This Form was not to serve the

pastor in admonishing, etc., but Christians when going to confession.

Possibly it was one of the charts which Roerer, March 16, mentioned as

novelties. The addition of this part was, no doubt, caused by Luther

himself. This is supported by the fact that Sauermann's translation,

which appeared by Luther's "advice and order," also contained it. And

while in the German book edition it was found in the Appendix, following

the Booklet on Baptism, Sauermann inserted it between Baptism and the

Lord's Supper with the superscription: "How schoolmasters ought in

simplest manner to teach their boys a brief form of confession. _Quo

pacto paedagogi suos pueros brevem confitendi rationem simplicissime

docere debeant._" Evidently this, too, was done with Luther's approval

(_auctoris consilio et iussu_). "Thus Luther at that time already," says

Albrecht, "selected this place for Confession and retained it later on,

when [1531] he furnished another form of confession for the Catechism

which to him seemed more appropriate." The gradual insertion of a new

chief part (of Confession and Absolution) between Baptism and the Lord's

Supper was therefore entirely according to Luther's mind; indeed, it had

virtually been carried out by him as early as 1529.

The original part Of Confession, however, was no catechetical and

doctrinal part in the proper sense of the word, but purely a liturgical

formula of Confession, even the Absolution being omitted. It merely

contained two confessions similar to the forms found in the Book of

Concord, page 552, sections 21 to 23. Hence Luther, in the edition of

1531, replaced it with a catechetico-liturgical form entitled, "How the

Unlearned Should be Taught to Confess." It is identical with the one

found in the Book of Concord of 1580, save only that the original

contained the words, "What is Confession? Answer," which are omitted in

the German Concordia. Luther placed the part Of Confession between

Baptism and the Lord's Supper, thereby actually making this the fifth

and the Lord's Supper the sixth chief part. And when later on (for in

Luther's editions the chief parts are not numbered) the figures were

added, Confession could but receive the number 5, and the Lord's Supper,

6. Thus, then, the sequence of the six parts, as found in the Book of

Concord, was, in a way, chosen by Luther himself.

113. Office of the Keys and Christian Questions.

The three questions on the Office of the Keys in the fifth chief part

form the most important and independent addition to Luther's Small

Catechism. However, they are not only in complete agreement with

Luther's doctrine of Absolution, but, in substance, also contained in

what he himself offered in the part Of Confession. For what Luther says

in paragraphs 26 to 28 in a liturgical form is expressed and explained

in the three questions on the Office of the Keys in a doctrinal and

catechetical form. Not being formulated by Luther, however, they were

not received into the Book of Concord. In the Nuernberg _Text-Booklet_

of 1531 they are placed before Baptism. Thence they were taken over into

the Nuernberg _Children's Sermons_ of 1533 as a substitute for Luther's

form of Confession. Andrew Osiander, in the draft of his Church Order of

1531, in the article on "Catechism and the Instruction of Children,"

added as sixth to the five chief parts: "Of the Keys of the Church, or

the Power to Bind and to Unbind from Sins," quoting as Bible-verse the

passage: "The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples," etc. Brenz, though

not, as frequently assumed, the author of the Nuernberg Catechism, also

contributed toward introducing and popularizing this part of the

Catechism. In his Questions of 1535 and 1536, which appeared in the

Appendix to the Latin translation of Luther's Large Catechism, he

offered an original treatment to the Keys of Heaven, as the sixth chief

part, on the basis of Matt. 16, 19; Luke 19, 16; John 20, 22f.

Thirty-six years after the first publication of Luther's Catechisms,

Mathesius, in his _Sermons on the Life of Luther,_ also speaks of six

chief parts of catechetical instruction; but he enumerates Absolution as

the part between Baptism and the Lord's Supper, hence as the fifth chief

part of the Catechism.

As to the Christian Questions for Those Who Intend to Go to the

Sacrament, it was claimed very early that Luther was the author. They

were first published in 1549, and a number of separate impressions

followed. After 1558 they are usually found in the appendix to the Small

Catechism. The Note, "These questions and answers," etc., designating

Luther as the author, first appeared in an edition of 1551. Together

with this note, the Questions are found in an undated Wittenberg edition

of the Small Catechism, which appeared about 1560, containing pictures

dated 1551. Referring to this edition, the Wittenberg proof-reader,

Christopher Walther, in a polemical writing (1566) against Aurifaber,

asserted that the Questions were not written by Luther, but by John Lang

of Erfurt (+ 1548). The question at issue has not yet been decided. For

while the contents of the Questions reproduce, from beginning to end,

Luther's thoughts, and the last answers are almost literally taken from

the Large Catechism, we have no evidence that Luther compiled them; but,

on the other hand, also no convincing proof against this. Claus Harms

and Koellner asserted that Luther is the author of the Questions, while

Kliefoth and Loehe declared it as probable.--The Introduction to the Ten

Commandments, "I the Lord, thy God," and the Doxology, at the close of

the Lord's Prayer, were added after Luther's death.

114. The Table of Duties--Haustafel.

The eighth and last chart of the Catechism differed from the preceding

ones in that it was superscribed: "Table of Duties (Haustafel),

Consisting of Certain Passages of Scripture for Various Holy Orders and

Stations. Whereby These are to be Admonished, as by a Special Lesson,

Regarding Their Office and Service." The exact time when Luther drew up

this Table is not known. The latest date to which its composition can be

assigned is the end of April or the beginning of May, 1529. It may,

however, be questioned whether it was published at all as a placard. The

two groups of passages: "What the Hearers Owe to Their Pastors," and:

"What Subjects Owe to Their Government," are probably not from Luther.

Following are the grounds supporting this view: 1. They are not

contained in the German editions but appeared for the first time in the

Latin translation. 2. Their superscriptions differ in form from those of

the other groups. 3. They adduce quite a number of Bible-verses, and

repeat some already quoted, _e.g._, 1 Tim. 2, 1, Rom. 13, 1. The German

Book of Concord omitted these passages, while the Latin Concordia of

1580 and 1584 embodied them. Albrecht writes: "The Table of Duties is an

original part of the Catechism, bearing a true Lutheran stamp. But it

was old material worked over, as is the case almost throughout the Small

Catechism." "The oft-repeated assertion, however, that the Table of

Duties was borrowed from the catechism of the Waldensians or Bohemian

Brethren, is not correct. For this Table is not found in the Catechism

of the Brethren of 1522, with which Luther was acquainted, but first in

Gyrick's Catechism of 1554, in which Lutheran material is embodied also

in other places." (W. 30, 1, 645.)

The confession books of the Middle Ages, however, which classified sins

according to the social estates, and especially John Gerson's tract (_De

Modo Vivendi Omnium Fidelium_ reprinted at Wittenberg 1513), which

treated of the offices of all sorts of lay-people in every station of

life, may have prompted Luther to draw up this Table. But, says

Albrecht, "it certainly grew under his hand into something new and

characteristic. The old material is thoroughly shortened, sifted,

supplemented, newly arranged, recast. While Gerson's tract throughout

bears the stamp of the Middle Ages, Luther's Table of Duties, with its

appeal to the Scriptures alone, its knowledge of what is a 'holy

estate,' its teaching that, as divine ordinances, civil government and

the household (when embraced by the common order of Christian love) are

equally as holy as the priesthood, reveals the characteristic marks of

the Reformer's new ideal of life, which, rooting in his faith, and

opposed to the hierarchy and monkery of the Middle Ages, as well as to

the fanaticism of the Anabaptists, became of far-reaching importance for

the entire moral thought of the succeeding centuries." (647.)

Grimm's Lexicon defines "Haustafel" as "_der Abschnitt des Katechismus,

der ueber die Pflichten des Hausstandes handelt,_ that section of the

Catechism which treats of the duties of the household." This verbal

definition, suggested by the term, is too narrow, since Luther's

"Haustafel" is designed "for various holy orders and estates,"

magistrates and pastors included. Still, the term is not on this account

inappropriate. Table (_Tafel, tabula_) signifies in general a roster, a

list, or index of leading points, with or without reference to the chart

form. And such a table suspended in the home and employed in the

instruction of the home congregation, is properly termed "Haustafel."

Agreeably to this, Andreas Fabricius, in 1569, called the "Haustafel" a

domestic table of works, _tabula operum domestica._ Daniel Kauzmann, in

his _Handbook_ (16 sermons on the Catechism) of 1569, says: "It is

called 'Haustafel' of the Christians because every Christian should

daily view it and call to mind therefrom his calling, as from a table

which portrays and presents to every one what pertains to him. It

teaches all the people who may be in a house what each one ought to do

or to leave undone in his calling." (642.)

In his _Catechismus Lutheri_ of 1600 Polycarp Leyser offers the

following explanation: "Why are these passages called a table? Beyond

doubt this is due to the fact that, from of old, good ordinances have

been written and graven on tables. So did God, who prescribed His Law to

the Jews in ten commandments on two tables. Similarly Solon wrote the

laws of Athens on tables. The Romans also had their law of twelve tables

brought from Athens. And so, when the government to-day issues certain

commands, it is customary to suspend them on tables, as also princes and

lords suspend on tables their court rules. But why is it called

'Haustafel' when it also treats of preachers and the government? The

reason for this is given by St. Paul, I Tim. 3, where he calls the

Church a house of the living God. For as the housefather in a large

house summons his servants and prescribes to each one what he is to do,

so God is also wont to call into certain stations those who have been

received into His house by Holy Baptism, and to prescribe to them in

this table how each one in his calling shall conduct himself." (641.)

Concerning the purpose of the Table of Duties, Albrecht remarks: "If I

am correct, Luther, by these additions, would especially inculcate that

Christianity, the essence of which is set forth in the preceding chief

parts, must daily be practised." That is certainly correct, for the

Catechism must not only be learned, but lived. And the Table of Duties

emphasizes the great truth, brought to light again by Luther, that

Christianity does not consist in any peculiar form of life; as Romish

priests, monks, and nuns held, who separated themselves from the world

outwardly, but that it is essentially faith of the heart, which,

however, is not to flee into cloisters and solitudes but courageously

and cheerfully to plunge into practical life with its natural forms and

relations as ordained by Creation, there to be tried as well as

glorified. In his _Admonition to the Clergy,_ 1530, Luther says:

"Furthermore, by such abominable doctrine all truly good works which God

appointed and ordained were despised and utterly set at naught [by the

Papists]. For instance, lord, subject, father, mother, son, daughter,

servant, maid were not regarded as good works, but were called

worldliness, dangerous estates, and lost works." (W. 30, 2, 291.) The

Table of Duties is a protest against such perverted views. For here

Luther considers not only the calling of preachers and teachers, but

also all those of government and subjects, of fathers, mothers, and

children, of masters and servants, of mistresses and maids, of employees

and employers, as "holy orders and estates," in which a Christian may

live with a good conscience, and all of which the Catechism is to

permeate with its truths. "Out into the stream of life with the

Catechism you have learned!" Such, then, is the admonition which, in

particular, the Table of Duties adds to the preceding parts of the

Catechism.

115. Symbolical Authority of Catechisms.

The symbolical authority of Luther's Catechisms must be distinguished

from the practical use to which they were put in church, school, and

home. As to his doctrine, Luther knew it to be the pure truth of the

divine Word. Hence he could not but demand that every one acknowledge

it. Self-evidently this applies also to the doctrinal contents of the

Catechisms. Luther, however, did not insist that his Catechisms be made

the books of instruction in church, school, and home; he only desired

and counseled it. If for the purpose of instruction the form of his

Small Catechism did not suit any one, let him, said Luther, choose

another. In the Preface to the Small Catechism he declared: "Hence,

choose whatever form you think best, and adhere to it forever." Again,

"Take the form of these tables or some other short, fixed form of your

choice, and adhere to it without the change of a single syllable."

Self-evidently Luther is here not speaking of the doctrine of the

Catechism, but of the form to be used for instruction. And with respect

to the latter he makes no demands whatever. However, the contents of

these books and the name of the author sufficed to procure for them the

widest circulation and the most extensive use. Everywhere the doors of

churches, schools, and homes were opened to the writings of Luther.

The tables had hardly been published when catechism instruction already

generally was given according to Luther's Explanation. The church

regulations, first in Saxony, then also in other lands, provided that

Luther's Small Catechism be memorized word for word, and that preaching

be according to the Large Catechism. The Church Order of Henry the

Pious, 1539, declares: "There shall not be taught a different catechism

in every locality, but one and the same form, as presented by Dr. Martin

Luther at Wittenberg, shall be observed everywhere." In 1533 the

ministers of Allstaedt were ordered "to preach according to Luther's

Large Catechism." (Kolde, 63.) The authority of the Catechisms grew

during the controversies after Luther's death, when the faithful

Lutherans appealed to the Smalcald Articles and especially to Luther's

Catechisms. The Lueneburg Articles of 1561 designate them, together with

the Smalcald Articles, as the correct "explication and explanation" of

the true sense of the Augustana. The _Corpus Doctrinae Pomeranicum_ of

1564 declares that "the sum of Christian and evangelical doctrine is

purely and correctly contained in Luther's Catechisms." Their authority

as a genuinely Lutheran norm of doctrine increased when the Reformed of

Germany, in 1563, made the Heidelberg Catechism their particular

confession.

Like the Smalcald Articles, Luther's Catechisms achieved their

symbolical authority by themselves, without resolutions of princes

estates, and theologians. The Thorough Declaration of the Formula of

Concord is merely chronicling actual facts when it adopts the Catechisms

for this reason: "because they have been unanimously approved and

received by all churches adhering to the Augsburg Confession, and have

been publicly used in churches, schools, and homes, and, moreover,

because the Christian doctrine from God's Word is comprised in them in

the most correct and simple way, and, in like manner, is explained, as

far as necessary for simple laymen." (852, 8.) The Epitome adds: "And

because such matters concern also the laity and the salvation of their

souls, we also confess the Small and Large Catechisms of Dr. Luther as

they are included in Luther's works, as the Bible of the laity, wherein

everything is comprised which is treated at greater length in Holy

Scripture, and is necessary for a Christian man to know for his

salvation." (777, 5.)

116. Enemies and Friends of Small Catechism.

In recent times liberal German theologians, pastors, and teachers have

endeavored to dislodge Luther's Small Catechism from its position in

church, school, and home. As a rule, these attacks were made in the name

of pedagogy; the real cause, however, were their liberal dogmatical

views. The form was mentioned and assailed, but the contents were meant.

As a sample of this hostility we quote the pedagog, philologian, and

historian Dr. Ludwig Gurlitt (_Die Zukunft,_ Vol. 17, No. 6, p.222): "At

the beginning of the sixteenth century," he says, "a monk eloped from a

cloister and wrote a religious book of instruction for the German

children. At the time it was a bold innovation, the delight of all

freethinkers and men of progress, of all who desired to serve the

future. This book, which will soon celebrate its five-[four-]hundredth

anniversary, is still the chief book of instruction for German children.

True, its contents already are so antiquated that parents reject almost

every sentence of it for themselves; true, the man of today understands

its language only with difficulty--what of it, the children must gulp

down the moldy, musty food. How we would scoff and jeer if a similar

report were made about the school system of China! To this Lutheran

Catechism, which I would best like to see in state libraries only, are

added many antiquated hymns of mystical turgidity, which a simple youth,

even with the best will does not know how to use. All outlived! Faith in

the Bible owes its existence only to the tough power and law of inertia.

It is purely mechanical thinking and speaking which the schoolmaster

preaches to them and pounds into them. We continue thus because we are

too indolent to fight, or because we fear an enlightened people."

The best refutation of such and similar aspersions is a reference to the

enormous circulation which Luther's Small Catechism has enjoyed, to its

countless editions, translations, elaborations, and its universal use in

church, school, and home for four centuries. Thirty-seven years after

the publication of Luther's Catechisms, Mathesius wrote: "Praise God it

is said that in our times over one hundred thousand copies have been

printed and used in great numbers in all kinds of languages in foreign

lands and in all Latin and German schools." And since then, down to the

present day, millions and millions of hands have been stretched forth to

receive Luther's catechetical classic. While during the last four

centuries hundreds of catechisms have gone under, Luther's Enchiridion

is afloat to-day and is just as seaworthy as when it was first launched.

A person, however, endowed with an average measure of common sense will

hardly be able to believe that the entire Lutheran Church has, for four

centuries, been so stupid as would have been the case if men of Dr.

Gurlitt's stripe had spoken only half the truth in their criticisms.

Moreover, the number of detractors disappears in the great host of

friends who down to the present day have not tired of praising the

Catechisms, especially the Enchiridion. They admire its artistic and

perfect form; its harmonious grouping, as of the petals of a flower, the

melody and rhythm of its language, notably in the explanation of the

Second Article, its clarity, perspicuity, and popularity; its

simplicity, coupled with depth and richness of thought; the absence of

polemics and of theological terminology, etc. However, with all this and

many other things which have been and might be said in praise of the

Catechism, the feature which made it what it truly was, a Great Deed of

the Reformation, has not as yet been pointed out. Luther Paulinized,

Evangelicalized, the Catechism by properly setting forth in his

explanations the _finis historiae,_ the blessed meaning of the great

deeds of God, the doctrine of justificaiton. Indeed, also Luther's

Catechism is, in more than one way, conditioned by its times, but in its

kernel, in its doctrine, it contains, as Albrecht puts it, "timeless,

never-aging material. For in it pulsates the heartbeat of the primitive

Christian faith, as witnessed by the apostles, and experienced anew by

the Reformer." (648.) This, too, is the reason why Luther's Enchiridion

is, indeed, as G. v. Zezschwitz remarks, "a booklet which a theologian

never finishes learning, and a Christian never finishes living."

117. Evaluation of Small Catechism.

Luther himself reckoned his Catechisms among his most important books.

In his letter to Wolfgang Capito, July 9, 1537, he writes: "I am quite

cold and indifferent about arranging my books, for, incited by a

Saturnine hunger, I would much rather have them all devoured, _eo quod

Saturnina fame percitus magis cuperem eos omnes devoratos._ For none do

I acknowledge as really my books, except perhaps _De Servo Arbitrio_ and

the Catechism." (Enders, 11, 247.) Justus Jonas declares: "The Catechism

is but a small booklet, which can be purchased for six pfennige but six

thousand worlds could not pay for it." He believed that the Holy Ghost

inspired the blessed Luther to write it. Mathesius says "If in his

career Luther had produced and done no other good thing than to give his

two Catechisms to homes, schools, and pulpits, the entire world could

never sufficiently thank or repay him for it." J. Fr. Mayer: "_Tot res

quot verba. Tot utilitates, quot apices complectens. Pagellis brevis,

sed rerum theologicarum amplitudine incomparabilis._ As many thoughts as

words; as many uses as there are characters in the book. Brief in pages,

but incomparable in amplitude of theological thoughts."

In his dedicatory epistle of 1591, to Chemnitz's _Loci,_ Polycarp Leyser

says: "That sainted man, Martin Luther, never took greater pains than

when he drew up into a brief sum those prolix expositions which he

taught most energetically in his various books.... Therefore he composed

the Short Catechism, which is more precious than gold or gems, in which

the pure doctrine of the prophets and apostles (_prophetica et

apostolica doctrinae puritas_) is summed up into one integral doctrinal

body, and set forth in such clear words that it may justly be considered

worthy of the Canon (for everything has been drawn from the canonical

Scriptures). I can truthfully affirm that this very small book contains

such a wealth of so many and so great things that, if all faithful

preachers of the Gospel during their entire lives would do nothing else

in their sermons than explain aright to the common people the secret

wisdom of God comprised in those few words and set forth from the divine

Scriptures the solid ground upon which each word is built they could

never exhaust this immense abyss."

Leopold von Ranke, in his _German History of the Time of the

Reformation,_ 1839, declares: "The Catechism which Luther published in

1529, and of which he said that he, old Doctor though he was, prayed it,

is as childlike as it is deep, as comprehensible as it is unfathomable,

simple, and sublime. Blessed is the man who nourishes his soul with it,

who adheres to it! He has imperishable comfort in every moment: under a

thin shell the kernel of truth, which satisfies the wisest of the wise."

Loehe, another enthusiastic panegyrist of Luther, declares: "The Small

Lutheran Catechism can be read and spoken throughout with a praying

heart; in short, it can be prayed. This can be said of no other

catechism. It contains the most definitive doctrine, resisting every

perversion, and still it is not polemical--it exhales the purest air of

peace. In it is expressed the manliest and most developed knowledge, and

yet it admits of the most blissful contemplation the soul may wish for.

It is a confession of the Church, and of all, the best known, the most

universal, in which God's children most frequently meet in conscious

faith, and still this universal confession speaks in a most pleasing

personal tone. Warm, hearty, childlike, yet it is so manly, so

courageous, so free the individual confessor speaks here. Of all the

confessions comprised in the Concordia of 1580, this is the most

youthful, the clearest, and the most penetrating note in the harmonious

chime, and, withal, as rounded and finished as any. One may say that in

it the firmest objectiveness appears in the garb of the most pleasing

subjectiveness."

Schmauk writes: "The Small Catechism is the real epitome of Lutheranism

in the simplest, the most practical, the most modern and living, and, at

the same time, the most radical form. It steers clear of all obscure

historical allusions; it contains no condemnatory articles, it is based

on the shortest and the oldest of the ecumenical symbols. It is not a

work for theologians, but for every Lutheran; and it is not nearly as

large as the Augsburg Confession." (_Conf. Prin.,_ 696.)

McGiffert says: "In 1529 appeared his [Luther's] Large and Small

Catechisms, the latter containing a most beautiful summary of Christian

faith and duty, wholly devoid of polemics of every kind, and so simple

and concise as to be easily understood and memorized by every child. It

has formed the basis of the religious education of German youth ever

since. Though preceded by other catechisms from the pen of this and that

colleague or disciple, it speedily displaced them all, not simply

because of its authorship, but because of its superlative merit, and has

alone maintained itself in general use. The versatility of the Reformer

in adapting himself with such success to the needs of the young and

immature is no less than extraordinary. Such a little book as this it is

that reveals most clearly the genius of the man." (_Life of Luther,_

316.)

O. Albrecht writes: "Reverently adhering to the churchly tradition and

permeating it with the new understanding of the Gospel, such are the

characteristics of Luther's Catechisms, especially the Small Catechism."

"On every page new and original features appear beside the traditional

elements." "The essential doctrinal content of the booklet is thoroughly

original; in it Luther offered a carefully digested presentation of the

essence of Christianity, according to his own understanding as the

Reformer, in a manner adapted to the comprehension of children--a

simple, pithy description of his own personal Christian piety, without

polemics and systematization, but with the convincing power of

experienced truth." (W. 30, 1, 647.)--Similar testimonies might easily

be multiplied and have been collected and published repeatedly.

The best praise, however, comes from the enemy in the form of imitation

or even verbal appropriation. Albrecht says: "Old Catholic catechetes,

and not the worst, have not hesitated to draw on Luther's Large

Catechism. If one peruses the widely spread catechism of the Dominican

monk John Dietenberger, of 1537 (reprinted by Maufang in his work on the

Catholic Catechisms of the sixteenth century, 1881), one is frequently

edified and delighted by the diligence with which, besides older

material, Luther's Large and Small Catechisms, as well as the Nuernberg

Catechism-sermons of 1533, have been exploited" (W. 30, 1, 497.)

118. Literary Merit of Small Catechism.

Moenckeberg remarks: The Small Catechism betrays "the imperfection of

the haste in which it had to be finished." As a matter of fact, however,

Luther, the master of German, paid much attention also to its language

in order, by pithy brevity and simple, attractive form, to make its

glorious truths the permanent property of the children and unlearned who

memorized it. In his publication "_Zur Sprache und Geschichte des

Kleinen Katechismus Luthers,_ Concerning the Language and History of

Luther's Small Catechism," 1909, J. Gillhoff writes: "Here, if ever,

arose a master of language, who expressed the deepest mysteries in

sounds most simple. Here, if ever, there was created in the German

language and spirit, and in brief compass, a work of art of German

prose. If ever the gods blessed a man to create, consciously or

unconsciously, on the soil of the people and their needs, a perfect work

of popular art in the spirit of the people and in the terms of their

speech, to the weal of the people and their youth throughout the

centuries, it was here. The explanation of the Second Article is one of

the chief creations of the home art of German poetry. And such it is,

not for the reason that it rises from desert surroundings, drawing

attention to itself alone, but because it sums up and crowns the

character of the book throughout." (16.)

Speaking in particular of the Second Article, Bang, in 1909, said in his

lecture "_Luthers Kleiner Katechismus, ein Kleinod der Volksschule_

--Luther's Small Catechism, a Jewel of the Public Schools": "The

Catechism is precious also for the reason that Luther in the

explanations strikes a personal, subjective, confessional note. When at

home I read the text of the Second Article in silence, and then read

Luther's explanation aloud, it seems to me as if a hymn rushing

heavenward arises from the lapidary record of facts. It is no longer the

language of the word, but of the sound as well. The text reports

objectively, like the language of a Roman, writing tables of law. The

explanation witnesses and confesses subjectively. It is Christianity

transformed into flesh and blood. It sounds like an oath of allegiance

to the flag. In its ravishing tone we perceive the marching tread of the

myriads of believers of nineteen centuries; we see them moving onward

under the fluttering banner of the cross in war, victory, and peace. And

we, too, by a power which cannot be expressed in words, are drawn into

the great, blessed experience of our ancestors and champions. Who would

dare to lay his impious hands on this consecrated, inherited jewel, and

rob the coming generations of it?!" (20.)

X. The Smalcald War and the Augsburg and Leipzig Interims.

119. Bulwark of Peace Removed.

Luther died on the day of Concordia, February 18, 1546. With him peace

and concord departed from the Lutheran Church. His death was everywhere

the signal for action against true Lutheranism on the part of both its

avowed enemies and false brethren. As long as that hero of faith and

prayer was still living, the weight of his personal influence and

authority proved to be a veritable bulwark of peace and doctrinal purity

against the enemies within as well as without the Church. Though enemies

seeking to devour had been lurking long ago, the powerful and commanding

personality of Luther had checked all forces making for war from without

and for dissension from within. The Emperor could not be induced to

attack the Lutherans. He knew that they would stand united and strong as

long as the Hero of the Reformation was in their midst. Nor were the

false brethren able to muster up sufficient courage to come out into the

open and publish their errors while the voice of the lion was heard.

But no sooner had Luther departed than strife began its distracting

work. War, political as well as theological, followed in the wake of his

death. From the grave of the fallen hero a double specter began to loom

up. Pope and Emperor now joined hands to crush Protestantism by brute

force as they had planned long ago. The result was the Smalcald War. The

secret enemies which Lutheranism harbored within its own bosom began

boldly to raise their heads. Revealing their true colors and coming out

in the open with their pernicious errors, they caused numerous

controversies which spread over all Germany (Saxony, the cradle of the

Reformation, becoming the chief battlefield), and threatened to undo

completely the blessed work of Luther, to disrupt and disintegrate the

Church, or to pervert it into a unionistic or Reformed sect. Especially

these discreditable internal dissensions were a cause of deep

humiliation and of anxious concern to all loyal Lutherans. To the

Romanists and Reformed, however, who united in predicting the impending

collapse of Lutheranism, they were a source of malicious and triumphant

scoffing and jeering. A prominent theologian reported that by 1566

matters had come to such a pass in Germany that the old Lutheran

doctrine was publicly proclaimed only in relatively few places. In the

Palatinate public thanks were rendered to God in the churches that also

Electoral Saxony was now about to join them. The Jesuits insisted that,

having abandoned the doctrine of the real presence in the Lord's Supper,

the Lutherans were no longer genuine Lutherans and hence no more

entitled to the privileges guaranteed by the Peace of Augsburg (1555).

That the final result of this turmoil, political as well as theological,

proved a blessing to the Lutheran Church must be regarded and ever

gratefully remembered as a special grace and a remarkable favor of

Almighty God.

120. Luther Foretold Coming Distress.

Though fully conscious of the gravity of the political and theological

situation, and convinced that war and dissensions were bound to come,

Luther was at the same time confident that it would not occur during his

life. With respect to the coming war he said: "With great earnestness I

have asked God, and still pray daily, that He would thwart their [the

Papists'] plan and suffer no war to come upon Germany during my life.

And I am confident that God surely hears such prayer of mine, and I know

that there will be no war in Germany as long as I shall live." (St. L.

9, 1856.) In his Commentary on the Book of Genesis he wrote: "It is a

great consolation when he says (Is. 57, 1) that the righteous are taken

away from the evil to come. Thus we, too, shall die in peace before

misfortune and misery overtake Germany." (St. L. 1, 1758.)

Luther spoke frequently also of the impending doctrinal dissensions. As

early as 1531 he declared that the Gospel would abide only a short time.

"When the present pious, true preachers will be dead," said he, "others

will come who will preach and act as it pleases the devil." (8, 72.) In

1546 he said in a sermon preached at Wittenberg: "Up to this time you

have heard the real, true Word; now beware of your own thoughts and

wisdom. The devil will kindle the light of reason and lead you away

from the faith, as he did the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians.... I see

clearly that, if God does not give us faithful preachers and ministers,

the devil will tear our church to pieces by the fanatics

(_Rottengeister_), and will not cease until he has finished. Such is

plainly his object. If he cannot accomplish it through the Pope and the

Emperor, he will do it through those who are [now] in doctrinal

agreement with us.... Therefore pray earnestly that God may preserve

the Word to you, for things will come to a dreadful pass." (12, 1174.

437.)

Reading the signs of the times, Melanchthon also realized that Luther's

prophecies would be fulfilled. His address to the students of Wittenberg

University, on February 19, 1546, in which he announced the death of

Luther, concludes: "_Obiit auriga et currus Israel._ He is dead, the

chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, who guided the Church in

this last old age of the world. For the doctrine of the forgiveness of

sins and of faith in the Son of God was not discovered by human

sagacity, but revealed by God through this man. Let us therefore love

his memory and his teaching, and may we be all the more humble and

ponder the terrible calamity and the great changes which will follow

this misfortune." (_C. R._ 6, 59.)

Nor were these prophecies of Luther mere intuitions or deductions based

on general reflections only. They were inductions from facts which he

had not failed to observe at Wittenberg, even in his immediate

surroundings. Seckendorf relates that Luther, when sick at Smalcald in

1537, told the Elector of Saxony that after his death, discord would

break out in the University of Wittenberg and that his doctrine would be

changed. (_Comm. de Lutheranismo_ 3, 165.) In his Preface to Luther's

Table Talk, John Aurifaber reports that Luther had frequently predicted

that after his death his doctrine would wane and decline because of

false brethren, fanatics, and sectarians, and that the truth, which in

1530 had been placed on a pinnacle at Augsburg, would descend into the

valley, since the Word of God had seldom flourished more than forty

years in one place. (Richard, _Conf. Hist_., 311.) Stephanus Tucher, a

faithful Lutheran preacher of Magdeburg, wrote in 1549: "Doctor Martin

Luther, of sainted memory, has frequently repeated before many

trustworthy witnesses, and also before Doctor Augustine Schurf, these

words: 'After my death not one of these [Wittenberg] theologians will

remain steadfast.'" Tucher adds: "This I have heard of Doctor Augustine

Schurf not once, but frequently. Therefore I also testify to it before

Christ, my Lord, the righteous Judge," etc. (St. L. 12, 1177; Walther,

_Kern und Stern,_ 7.)

It was, above all, the spirit of indifferentism toward false doctrine,

particularly concerning the Lord's Supper, which Luther observed and

deplored in his Wittenberg colleagues: Melanchthon, Bugenhagen,

Cruciger, Eber, and Major. Shortly before his last journey to Eisleben

he invited them to his house, where he addressed to them the following

solemn words of warning: They should "remain steadfast in the Gospel;

for I see that soon after my death the most prominent brethren will fall

away. I am not afraid of the Papists," he added, "for most of them are

coarse, unlearned asses and Epicureans; but our brethren will inflict

the damage on the Gospel; for 'they went out from us, but they were not

of us' (1 John 2, 19); they will give the Gospel a harder blow than did

the Papists." About the same time Luther had written above the entrance

to his study: "Our professors are to be examined on the Lord's Supper."

When Major, who was about to leave for the colloquy at Regensburg,

entered and inquired what these words signified, Luther answered: "The

meaning of these words is precisely what you read and what they say; and

when you and I shall have returned, an examination will have to be held,

to which you as well as others will be cited." Major protested that he

was not addicted to any false doctrine. Luther answered: "It is by your

silence and cloaking that you cast suspicion upon yourself. If you

believe as you declare in my presence, then speak so also in the church,

in public lectures, in sermons, and in private conversations, and

strengthen your brethren, and lead the erring back to the right path,

and contradict the contumacious spirits; otherwise your confession is

sham pure and simple, and worth nothing. Whoever really regards his

doctrine, faith and confession as true, right, and certain cannot remain

in the same stall with such as teach, or adhere to, false doctrine; nor

can he keep on giving friendly words to Satan and his minions. A teacher

who remains silent when errors are taught, and nevertheless pretends to

be a true teacher, is worse than an open fanatic and by his hypocrisy

does greater damage than a heretic. Nor can he be trusted. He is a wolf

and a fox, a hireling and a servant of his belly, and ready to despise

and to sacrifice doctrine, Word, faith, Sacrament, churches, and

schools. He is either a secret bedfellow of the enemies or a skeptic and

a weathervane, waiting to see whether Christ or the devil will prove

victorious; or he has no convictions of his own whatever, and is not

worthy to be called a pupil, let alone a teacher; nor does he want to

offend anybody, or say a word in favor of Christ, or hurt the devil and

the world." (Walther, 39f.)

121. Unfortunate Issue of Smalcald War.

All too soon the predictions of Luther, and the fears expressed by

Melanchthon and others, were realized. June 26, 1546, four months after

Luther's death, Pope and Emperor entered into a secret agreement to

compel the Protestants by force of arms to acknowledge the decrees of

the Council of Trent, and to return to the bosom of the Roman Church.

The covenant provided that, "in the name of God and with the help and

assistance of His Papal Holiness, His Imperial Majesty should prepare

himself for war, and equip himself with soldiers and everything

pertaining to warfare against those who objected to the Council, against

the Smalcald League, and against all who were addicted to the false

belief and error in Germany, and that he do so with all his power and

might in order to bring them back to the old [papal] faith and to the

obedience of the Holy See." The Pope promised to assist the Emperor with

200,000 Krontaler, more than 12,000 Italian soldiers, and quite a number

of horsemen. He furthermore permitted the Emperor to appropriate, for

the purpose of this war, one half of the total income of the church

property in Spain and 500,000 Krontaler from the revenue of the Spanish

cloisters.

While the Emperor endeavored to veil the real purpose of his

preparations, the Pope openly declared in a bull of July 4, 1546: "From

the beginning of our Papacy it has always been our concern how to root

out the weeds of godless doctrines which the heretics have sowed

throughout Germany.... Now it has come to pass that, by the inspiration

of the Holy Ghost, our dearest son in Christ, Charles, the Roman

Emperor, has decided to employ the sword against these enemies of God.

And for the protection of religion we intend to promote this pious

enterprise with all our own and the Roman Church's possessions.

Accordingly, we admonish all Christians to assist in this war with their

prayers to God and their alms, in order that the godless heresy may be

rooted out and the dissension removed.... To each and all who do these

things we grant the most complete indulgence and remission of all their

sins." (St. L. 17, 1453ff. Walther, 10.)

The Smalcald War, so called because it was directed against the Smalcald

League, was easily won by the Emperor. Among the causes of this

unfortunate issue were the neutral attitude of Joachim II of Brandenburg

and of other Lutheran princes, and especially the treachery of the

ambitious and unscrupulous Maurice, Duke of Saxony and nephew of Elector

John Frederick of Saxony, who, in order to gain the Electorate of

Saxony, had made a secret agreement with the Emperor according to which

he was to join his forces with those of the Emperor against the

Lutherans. The decisive battle was fought at Muehlberg on the Elbe,

April 24, 1547. It proved to be a crushing defeat for the Protestants.

The Elector himself was taken captive, treated as a rebel, and sentenced

to death. The sentence was read to him while he was playing chess with

his fellow-captive, Duke Ernest of Lueneburg. John Frederick answered,

he did not believe that the Emperor would deal so severely with him; if,

however, he were in earnest, they should let him know that he might

order his affairs with his wife and children. He then calmly turned to

the Duke, saying: "Let us continue the game; it's your move." (Jaekel,

_G. d. Ref._ l, 114.) The day after the battle at Muehlberg, Torgau fell

into the hands of the Emperor; and when he threatened to execute the

Elector, having already erected a scaffold for this purpose, Wittenberg,

too, though well protected by 5,000 soldiers, signed a capitulation on

May 19, in order to save the Elector's life. On the 23d of May,

Wittenberg was occupied by the Emperor. Here Charles, when standing at

the grave of Luther, and urged to have the body of "the heretic"

exhumed, spoke the memorable words that he was warring not with the

dead, but with the living. The death-sentence was rescinded, but, apart

from other cruel conditions forced upon the Elector, he was compelled to

resign in favor of Maurice and promise to remain in captivity as long as

the Emperor should desire. His sons were granted the districts of

Weimar, Jena, Eisenach, and Gotha. Philip of Hesse surrendered without

striking a blow, and was likewise treacherously held in captivity and

humiliated in every possible way by the Emperor. The imperial

plenipotentiaries had assured the Landgrave that he would not be

imprisoned. Afterwards, however, the words in the document, "not any

bodily captivity--_nit eenige Leibesgefangenschaft,_" were fraudulently

changed by Granvella to read, "not eternal captivity--_nit ewige

Leibesgefangenschaft_" (Marheineke, _G. d. Deut. Ref._ 4, 438.) The sons

of the Landgrave remained in possession of his territory. Thus all of

Southern and, barring a few cities, also all of Northern Germany was

conquered by Charles. Everywhere the Lutherans were at the tender mercy

of the Emperor, whose undisputed power struck terror into all Germany.